Iran invites envoys to nuclear sites

The "5+1" countries are the six world powers negotiating with Iran over its nuclear program: the five permanent UN Security Council members - Britain, China, France, Russia and the US - plus Germany.

The invitations from Iran came ahead of another round of nuclear talks later this month between Iran and "5+1" countries in Istanbul, Turkey. World powers and Tehran held their first round of talks last month in Geneva, Switzerland, without any major breakthroughs on the nuclear standoff.

"Iran is probably using this opportunity to probe how far the IAEA can tolerate its development of nuclear facilities," Ma Lirong, a professor of Middle East studies at the Shanghai International Studies University, told the Global Times.

Agencies contributed to this story